GAS-L: Natural Capitalism

[Reedtb2@cs.com]

Dear Crest members: 

(If this has appeared here before, accept my apologies).

22 years ago Amory Lovins wrote several books that fundamentally changed the 
wa that the utility industries looked at their business.  He and wife Hunter 
have founded the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, CO to teach and 
experiment on sustaina ability.

Now Paul Hawken, Amory and Hunter have written a book "Natural Capitalism" 
(Little Brown, 1999) that may have an even greater impact.  I am currently 
reading a short version in the Harvard BUsiness Review (Reprint 99309) and 
you can see summaries of their new philosophy at www.natural capitalism.org.  

Briefly, they advocate

o  Radically increasing the productivity of natural resources

o  A shift to biologically inspired production models and materials

o  A move to a "service-and-flow" business model (such as selling 
illumination rather than light bulbs)

o  Major reinvestment in our natural capital

Peter Senge, (author of the Fifth Disciple) said "If Adam Smith's "Wealth of 
Nations" was the bible for the first Industrial Revolution, then "Natural 
Capital" may well prove to be it for the next."

CHeck out the website and see if this starts a brushfire of discussion.

Yours truly,                        TOM REED                       CPC/BEF

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